Thursday, August 1, 2013

(All quotations taken from the
Complete works of Swami Vivekananda (Vol. I-VIII)).

Millions massacred through
Mohammad’s teachings : If you read the Koran, you find the most wonderful
truths mixed with superstitions. How will you explain it? That man (Prophet
Mohammed) was inspired, no doubt, but the inspiration was as it were, stumbled
upon. He was not a trained Yogi, and did not know the reason of what he was
doing. Think of the good Mohammed did to the world, and think of the great evil
that has been done through his fanaticism !Think of the millions massacred
through his teachings, mothers bereft of their children, children made orphans,
whole countries destroyed, millions upon millions of people killed ! (Vol. I.
P. 184)

Muslim rituals : The
Mohammedan, who thinks that every ritual, every form, every image or ceremony
used by a non-Mohammedan is sinful does not think so when he comes to his own
shrine, the Caaba. Every religious Mohammedan, wherever he prays, must imagine
that he is standing before the Caaba. When the makes a pilgrimage there, he
must kiss the black stone in the wall of the shrine. All the kisses that have
been imprinted on that stone, by millions and millions of pilgrims, will stand
up as witnesses for the benefit of the faithful on the Last Day of Judgment.
Then, there is the well of Zimzim. Mohammedans believe that whoever draws a
little water out of that well will have sins pardoned, and he will, after the
Day of Resurrection, have a fresh body, and live for ever. (Vol. 2, p. 39)

Kill who are not Muslims : The
Mohammedan religion allows Mohammedans to kill all who are not of their
religion. It is clearly stated in the Koran, “Kill the infidels if they do not
become Mohamedans”. They must be put to fire and sword. (Vol. 2, p. 335)

Killing unbelievers is surest way
to Heaven : The more selfish a man, the more immoral he is. And so also
with the race. That race which is bound down to itself has been the most cruel
and the most wicked in the whole world. There has not been a religion that has
clung to this dualism more than that founded by the Prophet of Arabia, and
there has not been a religion which has shed so much blood, and been so cruel
to other man. In the Kuran there is the doctrine that a man who does not
believe these teachings should be killed; it is a mercy to kill him ! And the
surest way to get to heaven, where there are beautiful ‘houris’ and all sorts
of sense-enjoyments, is by killing these unbelievers. Think of the bloodshed
there has been in consequence of such beliefs ! (Vol. 2, p. 352-53)

Every step forward was made with
the sword : Think of little sects, born within a few hundred years out of
fallible human brains, making this arrogant claim of knowledge of the whole of
God’s infinite truth ! Think of the arrogance of it ! If it shows anything, it
is this : how vain human beings are. And it is no wonder that such claims have
always failed, and, by the mercy of the Lord, are always destined to fall. In
this line, the Mohammedans were the best off; every step forward was made with
the sword – the Koran in the one hand and the sword in the other : “Take the
Koran, or you must die; there is no alternative !”. You know from history how
phenomenal was their success; for six hundred years nothing could resist them,
and then there came a time when they had to cry halt. So will be with other
religions if they follow the same methods. (Vol. 2, pp. 369-70).

Universal brotherhood for Muslims
only : Mohammedans talk of universal brotherhood, but what comes out of
that in reality? Why, anybody who is not a Mohammedan will not be admitted into
the brotherhood; he will more likely have his throat cut. (Vol. 2, p. 80)

Use of graves in place of images : The
Mohammedans use the graves of their saints and martyrs almost in the place of
images. (Vol. 3, p. 61)

God as a child : For the
Mohammedans, it is impossible to have this idea of God as a child; they will
shrink from it with a kind of horror. But the Christian and the Hindu can
realize it easily because they have the baby Jesus and the baby Krishna. (Vol.
3, p. 96)

No temple building in a Muslim
country : It is here that Indians build temples for Mohammedans and
Christians; nowhere else. If you go to other countries and ask Mohammedans or
people of other religions to build a temple for you, see how they will help.
They will instead try to break down your temple and you too, if they can. (Vol.
3, p. 114).

Word Hindu covers all those who
live in India : The word (‘Hindu’), therefore, covers not only Hindus
proper, but Mohammedans, Christians, Jains and other people who live in India.
(Vol. 3, p. 110).

Allah-ho-Akbar for centuries : Wave
after wave of barbarian conquest has rolled over this devoted land of ours.
“Allah-ho-Akbar !” has rent the skies for hundreds of years, and no Hindu knew
what moment would be his last.This is the most suffering and the most
subjugated of all the historic lands in the world. Yet we still stand
practically the same race, ready to face difficulties again and again, if
necessary, and not only so, of late there have been signs that we are not only
strong but ready to go out, for the sign of life is expansion. (Vol. 3, p.
369-70).

Only they are right ! : Ignorant
persons… not only deny the right of every man to interpret the universe
according to his own light, but dare to say that others are entirely wrong, and
they alone are right. If they are opposed, they begin to fight. They say that
they will kill any man who does not believe as they believe, and as the
Mohammedans do. (Vol. 4, p. 52).

Worshipping saints : The
Mohammedans from the beginning stood against any idol worship. They would have
nothing to do with worshipping the Prophets or the Messengers, or paying any
homage to them; but, practically, instead of one Prophet, thousands upon
thousands of saints are being worshipped. (Vol. 4, p. 121)

Mohammedans most sectarian : Now,
some Mohammedans are the crudest in this respect, and the most sectarian. Their
watchword is. “There is one God, and Mohammed is His Prophet”. Everything
beyond that not only is bad, but must be destroyed forthwith; at moment’s
notice, every man or woman, who does not exactly believe in that, must be
killed; everything that does not belong to this worship must be killed;
everything that does not belong to this worship must be immediately broken;
every book that teaches anything else must be burnt. From the Pacific to the
Atlantic, for five hundred years, blood ran all over the world. That is Mohammedanism
! Nevertheless, among these Mohammedans, wherever there was a philosophic man,
he was sure to protest against these cruelties. (Vol. 4, p. 126)

Sword flashed for hundreds of years
in India : Wave after wave had flooded this land, breaking and crushing
everything for hundreds of years. The sword has flashed, and “Victory unto
Allah” had rent the skies of India; but these floods subsided, leaving the
national ideals unchanged. (Vol. 4, p. 159)

Kafir deserves to be butchered : To
the Mussulmans, the Jews or the Christians are not object of extreme
detestation; they are, at the worst, men of little faith. But not so the Hindu.
According to him, the Hindu is idolatrous, the hateful Kafir; hence in this
life he deserves to be butchered; and in the next, eternal hell is in store for
him. The utmost the Mussulman kings could do as a favour to the (Hindu)
priestly class – the spiritual guides of these Kafirs – was to allow them
somehow to pass their life silently and wait for, the last moment. This was again
sometimes considered too much kindness! If the religious ardour of any (Muslim)
king was a little more uncommon, there would immediately follow arrangements
for a great yajna by way of Kafir slaughter! (Vol. 4, p. 446)

Mohammedans brought murder here : You
know that the Hindu religion never persecutes. It is the land where all sects
may live in peace and amity. The Mohammedans brought murder and slaughter in
their train, but until their arrival peace prevailed (Vo. 5, p. 190)

In India the Mohammedans were the
first who ever took the sword. (Vol. 5, p. 197)

Loss of a Hindu, gain of an enemy :
When the Mohammedans first came, we are said – I think the authority of
Ferishta, the oldest Mohammedan historian – to have been six hundred millions
of Hindus. Now [i.e. in 1899 AD] we are about two hundred millions. And then every man going out
of the Hindu pale is not only a man less, but an enemy the more.

Again, the vast majority of Hindu converts to Islam and Christianity are perverts by sword, or the descendants of
these.” (Vol. 5, p. 233)

Mohammedan conquest had to fall
back : The wave of Mohammedan conquest, which had swallowed the whole
earth, had to fall back before India. (Vol. 5, p. 528)

Hashashin became ‘assassin’ : Hashshashin
has became our word ‘assassin’ because an old sect of Mohammedanism killed
non-believers as a part of its creed. (Vol. 7, p. 40)

(i) “In so far as the charge is correct,
the Mussalmans take less interest (in India's freedom movement against the British Rule) because they do not yet
regard India as their home of which they must feel proud. Many (Muslims) regard
themselves, quite wrongly, I think, as belonging to race of conquerors”. (Young
India, April 2, 1925)

(ii)“The
Mussalman being generally in a minority has, as a class, developed into a
bully.” (Young India, June 19, 1924)

(iii) “Mussalmans have an ordeal to pass
through. There can be no doubt that they are too free with the knife and the
pistol.” (Young India, December 30, 1942)

(iv) "But I do regard Islam to be a religion of peace in the same sense as Christianity, Buddhism and Hinduism are. No doubt there are differences in degree, but the object of these religions is peace. I know the passages that can be quoted from the Koran to the contrary. But so is it possible to quote passages from the Vedas to the contrary. What is the meaning of imprecations pronounced against the Anaryas (non-Aryans)? Of course these passages bear today a different meaning but at one time they did wear a dreadful aspect. What is the meaning of the treatment of untouchables by us Hindus? Let not the pot call the kettle black. The fact is that we are all growing. I have given my opinion that the followers of Islam are too free with the sword. But that is not due to the teaching of the Koran. That is due in my opinion to the environment in which Islam was born. Christianity has a bloody record against it, not because Jesus was found wanting, but because the environment in which it spread was not responsive to his lofty teaching.

These two, Christianity and Islam, are after all religions of but yesterday. They are yet in the course of being interpreted. I reject the claim of maulvis to give a final interpretation to the message of Mahomed as I reject that of the Christian clergy to give a final interpretation to the message of Jesus. Both are being interpreted in the lives of those who are living these messages in silence and in perfect self-dedication. Bluster is no religion nor is vast learning stored in capacious brains. The seat of religion is in the heart. We Hindus, Christians, Mussalmans and others have to write the interpretation of our respective faiths with our own crimson blood and not otherwise." (Young India, 20-January-1927).

Gandhi was thus aware of the Quranic passages which preach violence and fanaticism, and convert-or-kill. He said Vedas too may contain some passages which are not peaceful. But Hindus do not regard the Vedas as 'Word of God' to be obeyed without question, but follow modern laws and the Indian Constitution, which was written by a Hindu apostate, Dr Ambedkar. Hindus regard the Vedas to be composed by humans some thousand years ago. But Muslims follow the Quran as the 'Word of God' to be obeyed by all. Gandhi also knew of Christianity's violent record.

This can also be found in Collected Works of Mahatma Gandhi, Volume 38, pages 87-88.

(v) "My own experience but confirms the
opinon that the Mussalman as a rule, is a bully and the Hindu, as a rule is a
coward. "(The Biography of Gandhiji, written by Dhananjay Keer, published by
Popular Prakashan, Mumbai, 1973; page 402)

"There is no doubt in my mind that in the
majority of quarrels the Hindus come out second best. But my own
experience confirms the opinion that the Mussalman as a rule is a bully and the Hindu as a rule is a coward. I have noticed this in railway trains, on public roads,and in the quarrels which I had the privilege of
settling. Need the Hindu blame the Mussalman for his cowardice? Where there are
cowards, there will always be bullies…But I, as a Hindu, am more ashamed of Hindu cowardice than I am angry at the Mussalman bullying… "

The
source quoted is "Hindu-Muslim Tension: Its Cause and Cure", Young India, 29/5/1924; reproduced in M.K. Gandhi: The Hindu-Muslim Unity, p.35-36.